LTA Manchester Challenger: Britons sail into last eight

THE odds on an all British conclusion to the LTA Manchester Challenger event at Didsbury have shortened due to the progression of Arvind Parmar, the third seed, and Martin Lee into the quarter-finals.

By Charles Carrick

12:00AM BST 21 Jul 2000

THE odds on an all British conclusion to the LTA Manchester Challenger event at Didsbury have shortened due to the progression of Arvind Parmar, the third seed, and Martin Lee into the quarter-finals.

Lee's 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 victory yesterday over Andy Ram, last week's winner of the Bristol Challenger, was particularly impressive as was Parmar's straight sets demolition of Ram's fellow Israeli Noam Behr in less than an hour.

Lee now tackles Italy's Daniele Bracciali, the world No 494, who has already negotiated five matches, including three in qualifying, to reach the last eight.

Lee had refused to be distracted when Ram interrupted the second set to tteatment physio for a back complaint."It just fired me up because I don't think there was too much wrong," said the 22-year-old Sussex professional. "He seemed to serve even harder after that break."

The surprise of the round was agitated Gianluca Pozzi's 6-3, 7-5 exit against Swiss qualifier Yves Allegro. The 35-year-old Italian's simmering frustration eventually boiled over when he smashed a ball out of court and promptly received a code violation.